Most helpful positive review

In typical Pixar artbook fashion, the pages are filled with concept drawings, visualizations and the thought process that went behind the production of Ratatouille. Through these pages, you'll come to a realization that their success is no fluke.

The creators travelled to France to research on the restaurants, food and the people. The effort and level of detail they put into the research can be clearly seen from the artwork from the book. The concept art and renders of the food in 3D made me imagine how they will taste if they were actually real.

You'll be able to see a lot of character designs for the humans as well as the rats. Sculpted models are also provided in photos. The storyboards, as you'll see plenty, are followed strictly in the movie. The compositions and lighting are the art form itself.

This book is filled with life and food, just like the movie. It makes for a perfect coffee table book.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

Most helpful critical review

Ratatouille is an amazing movie. Even after watching Wall-E and UP! I can still say that this is their best movie yet. Delightful and brilliant in every level, so I was really excited to buy the artbook of the movie. So is it as good?? In that matter, I have to agree with anoter reviewer here, that stated that in comparison with the film, the book is indeed lacking the same quality.

Overall, the book is divided in three aspects of the creation of the film: environments, character development and story. So, the very first "but" of the book is its length. Covering roughly 160 pages in which we are presented with the evolution of design and style of the film, albeit superficially. The images, sketches and paintings are integrated with small commentaries of the animators and the director Brad Bird. Those aren't really informative or insightful, but are interesting additions to the art. Another issue is that the book isn't well balanced in the content: for example, a lot of pages are dedicated to the development of Emille, Remis brother, while other much more interesting characters (like the brilliant "villain" of the film Anton Ego) are presented in a couple of pages. Finally, something that I really didn't like (and it seems this is a problem with most of Pixar artbooks) is that most of what you can called "art" in the book are mainly sketches and digital paintings. Some are great and others are so-so at best. Worse is the fact that all of this space could have been filled with comparisons of the art vs the finish scenes in the film. Some of those in the final movie look certainly beatiful and look like art in its own right. In that matter, this book is pretty much a registry of the early "development" of Ratatouille: the research trip made to Paris, the development of the character designs and the detail put on the backgrounds and environments.

If you're a fan of the movie (like me) or if you're interested in its development, buying the artbook is pretty much a no-brainer. Even with all of its flaws is still a decent companion for the DVD and it's a really good and beatiful cofee table book. The edition is a glossy harcover with an afterword by John Lasseter.

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In typical Pixar artbook fashion, the pages are filled with concept drawings, visualizations and the thought process that went behind the production of Ratatouille. Through these pages, you'll come to a realization that their success is no fluke.

The creators travelled to France to research on the restaurants, food and the people. The effort and level of detail they put into the research can be clearly seen from the artwork from the book. The concept art and renders of the food in 3D made me imagine how they will taste if they were actually real.

You'll be able to see a lot of character designs for the humans as well as the rats. Sculpted models are also provided in photos. The storyboards, as you'll see plenty, are followed strictly in the movie. The compositions and lighting are the art form itself.

This book is filled with life and food, just like the movie. It makes for a perfect coffee table book.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

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First of all, if you are not interested in limited prints, do not spend your money in this edition. Just buy the book separately, which is exactly the same one that the simple edition almost ten times cheaper. You have to know you are going to pay for the limited autographed prints included in this Limited Edition. However, if you are crazy about this kind of things; you are a collector or an animation fan, do not hesitate: this is your edition! The book is inside a dark grey box and over it, there is another tray with a hand-written letter by the director, Brad Bird and the limited prints. They are really amazing due to the quality of the prints: strong colors, beautiful surface paper and moreover, they are signed by their authors! I would like to see in a close future Disney and Pixar book editions like this one to get them all.

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Ratatouille is an amazing movie. Even after watching Wall-E and UP! I can still say that this is their best movie yet. Delightful and brilliant in every level, so I was really excited to buy the artbook of the movie. So is it as good?? In that matter, I have to agree with anoter reviewer here, that stated that in comparison with the film, the book is indeed lacking the same quality.

Overall, the book is divided in three aspects of the creation of the film: environments, character development and story. So, the very first "but" of the book is its length. Covering roughly 160 pages in which we are presented with the evolution of design and style of the film, albeit superficially. The images, sketches and paintings are integrated with small commentaries of the animators and the director Brad Bird. Those aren't really informative or insightful, but are interesting additions to the art. Another issue is that the book isn't well balanced in the content: for example, a lot of pages are dedicated to the development of Emille, Remis brother, while other much more interesting characters (like the brilliant "villain" of the film Anton Ego) are presented in a couple of pages. Finally, something that I really didn't like (and it seems this is a problem with most of Pixar artbooks) is that most of what you can called "art" in the book are mainly sketches and digital paintings. Some are great and others are so-so at best. Worse is the fact that all of this space could have been filled with comparisons of the art vs the finish scenes in the film. Some of those in the final movie look certainly beatiful and look like art in its own right. In that matter, this book is pretty much a registry of the early "development" of Ratatouille: the research trip made to Paris, the development of the character designs and the detail put on the backgrounds and environments.

If you're a fan of the movie (like me) or if you're interested in its development, buying the artbook is pretty much a no-brainer. Even with all of its flaws is still a decent companion for the DVD and it's a really good and beatiful cofee table book. The edition is a glossy harcover with an afterword by John Lasseter.

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Pixar Animation Studios are recognized the world over as leaders in the field of CG animated movies. The road from idea to movie release is a long one and before sets are modeled and textured and characters are modeled, rigged and animated, the concept work is done. This concept work is not seen in the final movie release but it is the guide for the look of the entire film. Design, color and lighting are all fleshed out in the concert art. "The Art of Ratatouille" showcases some spectacularly beautiful drawings, paintings and sculptures. It is interesting to see which concepts developed into the final movie and which fell by the wayside. And, or course, the art can also be appreciated simply for what it is. A stunningly, beautiful book.

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Even if you didn't like Ratatouille (I don't see why) you can appreciate this book. It is filled with amazing artwork for the film; storyboard, concept sketches, background paintings, color keys, and my favorite concept maquettes/sculptures of the characters. The character sculptures by Greg Dykstra really blew me away. Amazing stuff! Worth the price of the book alone! If you are an artist, animator you can't go wrong with purchasing this book. Artwork is beautiful if not short of brilliant. Some amazing talent at Pixar, who made an amazing film (and still going strong). Very inspiring book!! Not only has the artwork but talks about how Ratatouille came to be.

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What I didn't like was the way amazon has taken to shipping my books lately. In the past they were nicely sealed with a larger cardboard which prevented them from moving around in the box. I recieved several hard cover books with torn backings thanks to this new way of just tossing everything carelessly into a large roomy box with a few bands of 'air bubbles'. Please don't change a good thing.

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The Art of Ratatouille didn't disappoint me, because it completely reveals the artistic thoughts which determined the visual concept of the movie. The reader gets an insight into the artists conceptions and the accurate research that was needed to achieve a very rich and believable look. It's good to see how carefully they planned everything to create something really valuable.This is a very nice edition with beautiful illustrations in it.

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I enjoyed this art book, and it's a great addition to my growing "Art of" library. There are plenty of illustrations and commentary in this book that with each pass through I notice something new. Like other Pixar art books there is lots of commentary from the creators of the movie that provide some neat insight. This isn't my favorite "Art of" Pixar book but overall I'm very happy with this book.

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Very good book for people who are looking for tips in the hand draw cartoon character area. The different position of the mouse, the correct way you can draw a character make the book a very valuable tool. It is really bad that there is not much information in the 3d area and I myself bought this book much more to find 3d tips.